How smartphones made a difference to businesses

Smartphone technology has changed all of our lives, but it has had a particularly dramatic impact on the business world. This has often been a positive development, with a number of businesses demonstrating how this technology can be used to give a company an edge.


Smartphones can allow a business to lower overheads – ensuring cheaper prices for customers. One good example of this is the online taxi company Uber, which offers a smartphone app that people download to their devices. They can then enter requests for journeys, that Uber sends on to its drivers, one of whom fulfils the request. This business model has proven significantly less expensive than traditional taxi firms, ensuring that Uber is able to charge customers less and it has rival taxi firms very worried about how they can compete.


Companies are making use of the potential smartphones offer for greater mobility and flexibility – for example by creating specialist mobile versions of their websites. This is particularly useful for companies where people actually buy online – as it means people can browse or play these games anywhere, rather than just when they are sat in front of a computer. This lets people integrate these activities into their lives better and increases the potential revenue for the sites. The likes of online gaming firms are now targeting most of their efforts at mobile customers, ensuring the industry focus has shifted from computers to smartphones, for precisely this reason.


One thing people do on their smartphones is browse social networks like Twitter and Facebook, opening up marketing possibilities for companies that can tap into this. One example of how it can work is that of Bath Ales, a West Country Brewery, which witnessed a dramatic 56 percent spike in sales during a period in which it used Facebook and Twitter to respond directly to customers and engage with them. As nothing else in its business strategy had changed during this period, it was able to identify connecting with smartphone users via social networks as the key and maintain this approach.


Technology like smartphones presents many opportunities for companies to innovate – and get ahead of competitors as a result. Many companies are launched simply in the form of an app, like AroundMe, which is a smartphone app that provides information about the nearest hotels, restaurants etc to people who are new to a particular place – as well as providing GPS directions. This provides something useful that no one else was offering.


Making smart use of smartphones can allow companies to offer speedier, more efficient service – for example through QR codes. If a smartphone user downloads a company's app, the device can then be used to scan QR codes, directing them quickly to the information they require. Some estate agents – for example Rightmove - are now putting QR codes on For Sale signs, so that people passing by can scan them on their phones and get immediate information about properties.

Many firms such have revolutionised their markets by using digital technology to push boundaries. Clearly businesses are making good use of smartphones and these examples could well be worth trying out yourself.